Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza on December 1, hundreds of Palestinians – mostly children and women - have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in addition to the 15,500 already killed since October 7. Meanwhile, Israeli military operations have expanded into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety.
The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said today that the killing of thousands of innocent children and women, the siege on an entire civilian population, and the trapping of bombarded civilians behind closed borders in Gaza are crimes under international law.
While noting that there must be accountability for those responsible for the killings, the torture, and the atrocities committed in Israel on October 7, the non-governmental organization (NGO) said there must also be accountability for the crimes committed against civilians in Gaza, from political and military leaders as well as those who provided arms and support.
“This military campaign can in no way be described as ‘self-defense’,” said Jan Egeland, NRC Secretary General, in a statement.
“The pulverizing of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age. Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell,” he stressed.
Across the Gaza Strip, some 1.9 million people - almost the entire population - are believed to be displaced by the fighting and Israeli evacuation orders. About 1.2 million of them are sheltering in 156 severely overcrowded UN installations. Nearly two in three residences are now damaged or destroyed.
Israel's air and ground military operations in Gaza have killed more than 16,200 Palestinians, including at least 7,100 children and more than 4,800 women. At least 43,000 people have been injured and more than 7,600 people have been reported missing and may be still trapped dead or alive under the rubble.
“Countries supporting Israel with arms must understand that these civilian deaths will be a permanent stain on their reputation. They must demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. Only a cessation of hostilities will allow us to ensure effective relief to the two million who now require it,” Egeland said.
Amidst relentless air, land and sea attacks, thousands of families are forced daily to relocate from one perilous zone to another.
“Today, more than 750,000 people are crowded into just 133 shelters. Tens of thousands live on the streets of southern Gaza, where, under bombardment, they are forced to improvise basic shelters from whatever they can get hold of,“ the NRC Secretary General said.
Severe restrictions on aid access have aggravated the situation, leading to starvation among Gaza's population, intensifying an already dire humanitarian emergency. NRC said it has been forced to halt nearly all of its aid operations due to the bombardment, the chaos, and the panic.
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go,” said Lynn Hastings, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Monday.
She also stated that “the conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.”
“What we see today are shelters with no capacity, a health system on its knees, a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition for people already mentally and physically exhausted: a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.”
Hastings noted that the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) alone cannot support a population of 2.2 million.
“Commercial and public sectors must be allowed to bring supplies into Gaza to restock markets. This must include fuel in a manner which ensures Israel’s security,” she said.
“Announcements of establishing so-called safe zones and tented cities without assurances that people will be able to move freely and that assistance can be delivered where there is need are alarming. These zones cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared,” the Humanitarian Coordinator added.
Also on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his extreme alarm about the resumption of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, including the renewal and expansion of Israel’s airstrikes and military ground operations into the southern Gaza on Friday.
“The UN continues to appeal to Israeli forces to avoid further action that would exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to spare civilians from more suffering,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Among those killed are at least 131 UN staff, 281 health workers and 77 journalists.
“Civilians — including health workers, journalists and UN personnel — and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times,” the spokesperson said.
Guterres called on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and renewed his call for a sustained humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and for the unconditional and immediate release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.
“The number of civilians killed is rapidly increasing,” said Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinians, on Monday.
“Civilians, including men, women, children, older persons, the sick and people with disabilities, are the most to suffer,” Lazzarini said.
Guterres also reiterated the need for an unimpeded, adequate and sustained flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The UN said Monday that the current situation on the ground is severely impeding its ability to address humanitarian needs. Limited aid was distributed in Rafah on Sunday but largely stopped in the neighboring Khan Younis because of the hostilities.
“The Israeli authorities continue to restrict the flow of humanitarian supplies, including fuel, forcing the UN to only use the ill-equipped crossing point with Egypt,” Lazzarini said, reiterating his call for Israel to open more border crossings with Gaza for humanitarians.
Israel has ordered Palestinians in areas around the Gazan city of Khan Younis to evacuate to Rafah, farther south, near the border with Egypt. Many of them have been displaced more than once before from other parts of Gaza.
“The order created panic, fear and anxiety,” Lazzarini said, adding that it pushes people into an area less than one-third of the Gaza Strip.
Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict must take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, civilian harm. This can entail evacuating civilians or giving effective advance warning of attacks, which provides civilians enough time to leave, as well as a safe route and place to go.
All possible measures must be adopted to ensure that those civilians displaced can afford satisfactory conditions of safety, shelter, nutrition, and hygiene and ensure that family members are not separated. Civilians choosing to stay in areas designated for evacuation do not lose their protection.
On Monday, the UN Secretary-General also expressed alarm at the growing violence in the West Bank, including Israeli security operations, high numbers of fatalities and arrests, rising settler violence and attacks on Israelis by Palestinians, his spokesperson said.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since October 7, Israeli forces have killed 246 Palestinians, including 65 children, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
OCHA warned Monday that the current situation in Gaza does not allow them to address people's needs. Limited aid distributions, primarily of flour and water, took place Sunday in the Rafah governorate in Gaza. In the adjacent Khan Younis governorate, aid distribution largely stopped due to the intensity of hostilities. Gaza’s Middle Area was largely disconnected from the south, following Israeli forces’ prevention of movement, including of humanitarian supplies.
Meanwhile, grave concerns about waterborne diseases due to water consumption from unsafe sources persist, particularly in the north, where the water desalination plant and the pipeline from Israel was shut down. There has been almost no improvement in the access of residents in the north to water for drinking and domestic purposes for weeks.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned Monday that, eight weeks into the war, there is a big risk of famine for all of Gaza’s people, especially for those with chronic diseases, older persons, children and people living with disabilities.
On October 7, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including fighters from the militant Hamas group, launched thousands of rockets toward Israel and breached through a perimeter fence of Gaza at multiple locations. Members of armed groups entered into Israeli towns, communities, and military facilities near the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israeli forces and civilians.
More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, most of them civilians, were reportedly killed and more than 5,400 injured, most of them on October 7. Some 240 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, were held hostage in Gaza. More than 100 of the Israeli hostages have since been released, most of them during a weeklong truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Nearly two months ago, the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip drastically deteriorated following attacks by the Israeli military due to the atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups in Israel. The merciless attacks by the IDF and the blockade imposed on Gaza by the Israeli government has led to a humanitarian catastrophe for the people of the tiny enclave.
Further information
Full text: Civilian deaths in Gaza are a stain on Israel and its allies, Norwegian Refugee Council, statement, released December 5, 2023
https://www.nrc.no/news/2024/december/gaza-statement-december/
Full text: Statement of the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), statement, released December 4, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/statement-humanitarian-coordinator-occupied-palestinian-territory-lynn-hastings-4-december-2023
Full text: Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on the Middle East, UN Secretary-General, released December 4, 2023
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2023-12-04/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-%E2%80%93-the-middle-east%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0
Full text: Bombardment in southern Gaza increases mass displacement, statement from UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, released December 4, 2023
https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/bombardment-southern-gaza-increases-mass-displacement